Deal Snapshot: The Belgian company follows a tradition of Western pharma companies relying on local expertise to market their products in China.

HPV vaccine shipments to China are expected to fall after a government crackdown on bribery and corruption caused scientific communication with health care providers to decline. Gardasil also may be hurt by budgetary pressures on distribution of the government-reimbursed vaccine.

Merck & Co.’s $16.11bn in sales exceeded expectations and prompted a slight increase in 2024 guidance, but HPV vaccine Gardasil came in slightly below consensus due to lower sales in China.

Apparently months after his actual detention, news has finally surfaced that a key researcher behind China's rapid development of a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine is said to have "severely violated" Communist Party rules and regulations and is the subject of a probe for possible corruption.